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These days there are so many apps infested with spyware or adware, and it almost seems as if the stores themselves are promoting them in exchange for a cut. And some apps that start off clean get "updated" to include ads and spying. How do you find free apps that aren't infested?
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Ask Soylent: Where to Get Spyware-Free Apps
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sillema sillema nika su
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:43PM
I agree with the other guy: use your distribution's repository.
Though you didn't mention the real culprit: I suppose that you are trying to use windows.
Not necessarily: he could be using Android or iOS.
Yes, if you're talking about a desktop PC, the answer is plain and simple: use a good Linux distro, and get all your "apps" from that distro's repository. Problem solved. What if you're using Windows? Simple: download a good Linux distro ISO, wipe out your Windows install (save your personal data of course), and install Linux. Problem solved. No more viruses, spyware, adware, bloatware, etc.
But these days, people are frequently talking about their phones; it isn't so easy here, because iOS and Android have such a lock on the market, and there aren't really any truly open-source OSes (even community open-source versions of Android still rely on proprietary drivers and such). And for the apps, you're really screwed because there just aren't that many open-source mobile apps, and so many people use certain popular closed-source apps for a lot of things. A few big ones that come to mind which I use are Google Maps (navigation), other Google integration apps (like Calendar, Gmail, etc.), Tinder, OKCupid, online banking apps from your bank, Uber, Meetup, and of course the Google Play store. On the desktop, none of these things are necessary, because you just use them in your browser. But that doesn't usually work so well on mobile devices since part of the attraction is the tie-in to the phone's notification system (so for instance, you get a notification when someone on OKCupid messages you), or to other functions on the phone, plus of course the fact that website, even ones supposedly designed for mobile devices, universally suck when viewed on mobile browsers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:50PM
I, uhhhh, have to disagree with you, at least in part. Android really IS a good open source OS. If anything, it's too open. Somewhat like a BSD license, vendors are permitted to bend and stretch Android into any contortions they like. Something got lost along the way, with phones being "locked" into proprietary channels. Sucks - but you CAN root your Android and reinstall to your own liking. Alas - far to many people are uncaring, unknowing, or just can't be bothered - or some combination of the three.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday June 06 2015, @06:20PM
Browser based apps would work equally well for most of the cases you cite, notification is a solved problem too. Your phone already has a connection to Google's messaging service along with something called A MOBILE PHONE. No, the 'app' world mostly exists because they want to put the other crap on your phone and be able to run it 24/7.
We learned an important lesson with apps, put a check off box in the development environment saying "Do you want money?" and people check the box, explaining why there is almost no Free Software on mobile platforms. When it was Free Software or found a software company a lot of people would just let it go. Especially in an environment where almost all of the competing apps are equally infested and there is no easy way to even find the one lone holdout that isn't. We have to start agitating for the Big G to clearly mark the anti-features as clearly as F-Droid does. (Forget the fruit store, anybody there already agreed they like throwing money at crap.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @07:08PM
wipe out your Windows install [...] and install Linux
First, it would have been good if the submitter had mentioned what OS he is actually using.
No more viruses, spyware, adware, bloatware, etc.
This far into The Decade of Linux on the Desktop, yours is sage advice.
It is the rare app these days that doesn't have a Linux-compatible port|equivalent|replacement.
In the cases where that is not so, installing ($0, FOSS) VirtualBox and installing Windoze inside that virtual machine can handle the cases of must-have Windoze-only apps (no dual-boot/rebooting necessary).
Once done, make a snapshot of that virtualized OS install as a backup in case the usual expectation of Windoze occurs.
Should something undesired happen, nuke the install inside the VM and restore from the snapshot/backup.
It really is odd to imagine someone running Windoze on bare metal these days.
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Fristy hit the bullseye pointing to the software repository of your Linux distro.
Looking back after leaving MICROS~1's stuff behind, it always amazes me how Windoze users run code they have downloaded from some site without even doing a checksum on that to assure that what they got is what they -think- they got.
If what you need isn't in the (well-vetted) repo of your distro, in the Ubuntu ecosystem there are also PPAs. [wikipedia.org]
Visiting your distro's help forum periodically will expose you to folks mentioning such things.
Look there for folks who have already solved the problem|filled the need that you have and can vouch for the PPA.
If your repo doesn't contain the desired app, compiling your software from source code is another option--and that is the ultimate in assuring that you are getting what you expect.
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If the OS is Android, Cyanogenmod is Step 1 for proper permissions/security and Step 2 is Xprivacy (or Pdroid).
The Little Red Robot [google.com] is even farther in the direction of freedom than that--but fewer devices are supported. [replicant.us]
Airplane Mode has already been mentioned in this thread.
-- gewg_